DDP Talks Becoming A Main Eventer, Almost Quitting WCW, Feuding With Savage, Helping Jericho & More

"Diamond" Dallas Page recently spoke with Raj Giri of WrestlingINC.com about his time in the business, his start in the AWA and WCW, being there when WWE purchased WCW, his time with WWE, starting DDPYoga and much more. Here is part two of the interview, make sure to check back this weekend for part three. Click here for part one of the interview where DDP talks about his early WCW days, Rob Van Dam inspiring him, Eddie Guerrero, being fired By WCW, Hulk Hogan and more.

Page: Yeah, what happened was it became about the NWO thing, I came up with the angle [to turn down joining the nWo]. I went to Kevin [Nash], I said, "I got this great idea. You guys come to me and want me to be NWO. You come to me [to be] number five, and I'll go, "f--k you. I don't need you! I got the baddest b-tch on the planet, I don't need you" and I walk off. It was supposed to be two weeks, and then I come down and get the shirt, Scott [Hall] and Kev hug me, Scott grabs my hand and then I pull him back... diamond cutter! That was supposed to happen ten weeks before it happened. They pulled it off TV ten weeks in a row!

By the time we did it, it was in New Orleans and I was ready to quit... I was so ready to quit. If we didn't do it that week, my life would be completely different. It was supposed to be 12 minutes.... watch it, it's four. They cut my time from 12 [minutes] to 10, to 8, to 6 to 4! I was so f--king pissed, by the time I went out there!

When we did the "Very Best of Nitro" DVD, the producers [said], "I cannot believe how much sh-t you fit into four minutes there." I was so mad, I was yelling [before the angle] and Kev said, "dude, what do you want me to say?" I said, "this whole company's always f--king me around!" He's like, "dude, breathe."

But those guys came out, the place blew perfectly... but I was so pissed. When I went through the people, I came down, I grabbed my bag and didn't say "thank you" to anybody because I was so pissed and I didn't want anybody to see how pissed I was for the favor they just did for me, which was the biggest thing in my career.

I went to the hotel, I changed and then I went to Bourbon Street and started drinking. I was taking shots of Jack [Daniels] and drinking Coors Light and wondered, "how many times will they play it?" Now, if Steve Austin did something like that -- which he did numerous times to Vince [McMahon] -- how many times do you think they would have played that if it were in the opening five minutes? How many do you think?

WrestlingINC.com: Well, knowing WCW at that time, probably zero.

Page: No, I mean WWE, if Austin did it.

WrestlingINC.com: Oh, at least three or four times that episode.

Page: Minimum! They [WCW] didn't play mine once, I was ballistic! It's a three hour show and it happened in the first hour!

WrestlingINC.com: I remember the place going nuts and people raving about the angle on our site. It was weird that it was such a hot angle to kick off the show and it wasn't talked about after that.

Page: I was so pissed and got so drunk. Scotty [Hall] and the guys were like, "Oh yeah! You got your big break tonight! Brother, you're off and running!" I was like, "f--k them!" F--king Scott goes, "man, that's like my spot. I'm going to have to stay semi-sober tonight and carry Dally!" Scott and I were talking about it a couple of months ago, it was so f--ked up, Scott Hall was taking care of me!

WrestlingINC.com: That's crazy, because everyone was talking on WrestlingINC that night about how a new main-eventer was born.

Page: That was the one... that was the rocket and Randy [Savage] was the one who sent it to outer space. He put me over, with the diamond cutter, it was... it was my time. And it couldn't be denied anymore. I mean, Randy Savage is saying, "I want to work with him. And I want to put him over."

WrestlingINC.com: It always seemed like Savage never had a problem putting people over if it was right for business.

Page: If it was going to draw money. Randy Savage, who has feuded with every great on the planet, when he died... the top four angles that were up there, I was one of them with him. Think about that. They guy who worked with [Ricky] Steamboat, [Hulk] Hogan, Jake [Roberts], I mean everyone! And my angle with him was "Feud of the Year" in 1997.

So we were at a house show in South Carolina. Arn Anderson was the agent, and Randy comes in. I say, "Randy, what do you want to do tonight." And Randy says, "I think I want to take the diamond cutter." And f--king Arn almost fell over... I almost fell over! So we go out there, we have the match... bing bang boom and I hit the diamond cutter, and the roof blows off! My face is laying there, Randy's on his back and I put my arm over his chest. One-two-three, the roof blows off.! They just kept screaming and screaming and screaming and Randy says, "I think we have our finish to Spring Stampede'!"

WrestlingINC.com: That was a crazy time for the business. WCW was on fire, Austin was catching fire in the WWF. What was it like being in the business at that time?

Page: Dream. It was like... I never thought about being in that spot. I remember telling Dusty, "They're never going to give me the opportunity to be in that spot." I told Dusty, "I'm never going to be you, or Flair or Hogan, I'm never going to be a world champion." Dusty goes, "what did you just say?" I said, "I'm never going to be you..." He said, "no, what did you say after that?" I said, "they're never going to put the world title on me." He said, "what the hell are you doing this for?! If you don't believe that you have the ability to be a world champion, then kid, you need to get the f--k out now."

And he was so right, that day I wrote it down that I would be world champion in five years and it took four years, four months and like 14 days. You know, you talk about dreams manifesting into reality, I did that before the Savage thing ever happened.

WrestlingINC.com: A year later you had that great match with Goldberg at Halloween Havoc. I remember the PPV timing got screwed up and the PPV went off for a lot of people as the match was going to the ring.

Page: [laughs] Yeah.

WrestlingINC.com: But in a way, it worked out, because they showed the match in its entirety on Nitro and even more people saw it.

Page: Exactly.

WrestlingINC.com: Did you know that you were getting close to being the champion when you were feuding with Goldberg?

Page: I knew that I was a viable candidate. [Eric] Bischoff never saw me as "the guy." And I think it's because we were so close at the time. But, I was the guy. If Bill [Goldberg] would have put me over there, I would have jetted into a whole 'nother level there, to that Austin - Rock level. Even JR said when I came to WWE, he goes, "you were right there. In '97 you were the hottest property out there." Austin was coming up, he was lightning hot, but I was on the team that was kicking a-- too. Dusty pulled me aside and said, "you know, I pulled Eric [Bischoff] aside and I said to him, are you sure? This might be the guy to drop him." Because it would have been believable, everyone would have bought it. I would have went to the next f--king level, but they didn't.

But it was what it was, and I'm so happy when I look back at my run. I lived the dream man, on a whole 'nother level.

WrestlingINC.com: You won the title the next year at Spring Stampede in a four way with Sting, Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan, how far in advance did you know that you were getting the belt.

Page: I knew they were talking about it, because Hulk... it was actually Hulk and Kevin Nash's idea. They were like, "he's overdue. It's time." For Ric [Flair] of all people taking the finish -- my finish -- right there in the middle, and Randy Savage handing me the belt... think about that. Two years earlier, Randy puts me over at Spring Stampede... that's obviously my favorite PPV ever, Spring Stampede.

WrestlingINC.com: Yeah, that had to be wild winning the title in a four way where you've got Sting, Hogan, Flair in the match and Savage as referee. You can't duplicate that kind of star power in one ring today.

Page: No way. When you think of all the years of lineage that's there and... I don't think you can do it ten years from now, even if all the guys stay healthy. Those four guys, they were all mega-icons. And after that match, it was just me and Hogan when I walked in the door. He looks up at me and goes, "that you, of all people, who people that was a joker and you worked so hard. That you would become a world champion is the way this business should be. That's what it's all about."

WrestlingINC.com: Yeah, it's a great story to see someone who wasn't born into the business make it through sheer hard work.

Page: Absolutely, you never can give up. I mean, think about what I'm doing right now with DDPYoga. I'm branding it as "it ain't your mother's Yoga" and I'm branding it to a group of people that wouldn't be caught dead doing yoga. There's that saying to take the path less traveled. What I have done is gone into the woods where there is no path and taken a bulldozer and cleared my own way.

And now I've got [Chris] Jericho, who's been so vocal about it -- no one's been as vocal as he's been -- and saying "DDPYoga changed my life" is really something. That I can help one of my brothers like that. And Chris has turned Kane onto this, Santino [Marella] on to this, Marc Mero, Glacier, Tazz just got ahold of my on Twitter. For me to be doing this, and helping these guys who are wrestlers and helping them get pain relief... I mean, Jericho had said his career was over and he was 85% pain free in three weeks! In three months, he's like 95% pain free.

Make sure to check back this weekend for part three of the interview where DDP talks about the end of WCW, WWE buying WCW, his WWE run and much more. Click here for part one of the interview where DDP talks about his early WCW days, Rob Van Dam inspiring him, Eddie Guerrero, being fired By WCW, Hulk Hogan and more.

Also, make sure to learn more about DDPYoga by clicking here. A lot of wrestlers are now using it including Chris Jericho, Mick Foley, Shane Helms and scores of others. You can check out more about it below: